Done by Engineers group at Mosaab Bin Omair Independent Secondary School for Boys. Under supervision from AL-Bairaq

1. AL- Bairaq
I am Discovering Materials
10th cycle
(Biodegradable materials)
1)Khalid AlSheeb 2)Mohammed alNeama
3)Jassim Al-Qahtani 4)Hilmi Abualiyyan
Engineers
1

2. Outline
• Introduction:
• Activity 1:Comparing packing materials.
• Activity 2:Hunting for biodegradable material.
• Activity 3:Processing biodegradable materials.
• Activity 4: Comparing processed biodegradable materials
• Design Project :We make biodegradable representing
drugs.
• Product Idea: Biodegradable reminders.
2

3. Introduction
1)Biodegradable materials: Materials that can break-down into raw
materials by environmental factors.
2)Degradation:The process when a degradable material breaks-down
into raw materials.
3)Non-biodegradable materials: Materials that can’t break down into
raw materials ,but it breaks-down into toxic materials.
3

4. Activity1(part A): Comparing
packing materials
• Objective: Comparison between two different packing
materials.
• Procedure: we brought 2 beakers both of them were
filled with the same amount of water and the same
amount of different foam. In the first beaker we put a
piece of a biodegradable foam.
• And in the other beaker we put a piece of non
Biodegradable foam.
4

5. Activity1(part A): Comparing
packing materials
• We waited for a couple of minutes until the
biodegradable foam broke down which is the white one
and in the other hand the green foam didn’t break down.
• Conclusion:We conclude that biodegradable foams
biodegrade in water, unlike the non-Biodegradable
foams.
5

6. Activity1(part B): Comparing
packing materials
We used 2 types of foam; one was Biodegradable, which was the
white foam (cornstarch).
And the non biodegradable one which was the green foam
(polystyrene).
First of all we wanted to compare the strength and the durability of
those 2 types of foams so we had 2 plastic bags both of them were
filled with the same amount of foam. One of them was filled with the
biodegradable foam and the other bag was filled with the non-
biodegradable foam and we put 2 eggs in those bags, one egg in each
plastic bag.
Conclusion:The eggs didn’t break in
those bags filled with 2 types of foam
6

7. Activity2: Hunting for
biodegradable materials
• We have lots of biodegradable materials such as :
Cotton , Dead bodies.
• And we also have non-biodegradable materials
such as: concrete , plastic bags and cooking pots
cars.
Conclusion: In the end, we realized that some
things are not meant to be biodegradable like: cars
and concrete, on the other hand somethings should
be biodegradable like plastic and paper.
7

8. Activity3: processing
biodegradable materials
• Objectives: we must process biodegradable
materials such as : a gelatin film with 5%
concentration ,10% concentration and 20 %
concentration gel.
8

9. Activity3: processing
biodegradable materials
• Procedure:We took all of the gelatin ( 5% , 10% , 20% )
capsules and put them into the beaker filled with 10 M
of HCL solution then we heated those 3 beakers up to
60 degrees Celsius. We waited until all of the gelatin
capsules melted down and we put the 5% and 10 %
Films inside the uncovered petri dish and we put the 20
% Gel inside a covered petri dish.
9

10. Activity3: processing biodegradable
materials
10M
HCL
Film 5%
film 10 %
Gelatin
capsule
films
60 degrees c
10M
HCL
Gel 20%
10M
HCL
concentration
Viscosity
transparency
Formed Gel
10

11. Gelatin
capsule
0.1g
Foam
peanuts
0.1g
5% film
0.1g
20% Gel
0.1g
Hot water
200 Ml 55:27 s 32:60 s 3:39 m 5:02 m
0.0001 M
HCL 8:84 m 1:67 m 59:39 s 9:43 m
0.0001 M
Na OH 9:17 m 8:13 m 2:54 m 9:40 m
Activity4:Comparing processed
biodegradable materials
Conclusion: the fastest degrading solution
for all materials was the hot water.
11

12. 1 – Making the biodegradable sodium alginate beads
Pipette
Na
sodium
alginate
CaCl2
solution
Food dye
(Representing drug)
10
ml
2 ml
3 drops
2- Observing the degradation & Drug release in Na Citrate solution
Sodium
citrate
solution
Filter
paper
Sodium
alginate
200
ml
Design project:
designing medicine delivery device
12
(colored beads formed)
The color started to diffuse

13. Have you ever bought a product and forgot about it
because you thought that product would last for a long
period of time and you didn’t even know the actual
expiry date, but as soon as you tried to use that product
you realized that it was expired?That has happened
many times to many people.We have thought of an idea
which will solve that problem and it is pretty simple.
First, by making a biodegradable indicator
Which tells the consumer when the product expires
without the need to look at the expiry date ,So that the
people have an easier time shopping.
Biodegradable reminder
13

14. Hypothesis :
Biodegradable reminder
1) It should tell the consumer when to check the
expiry date.
2)We expect to help the owners of huge
compounds by giving them these reminders.
14

15. Biodegradable reminder
Procedures :
The most essential part of the entire project is bio-plastic
which is pretty much a biodegradable version of the
normal plastic.There are various kinds of bio-plastic in this
world, which vary in the degradation rate and other
properties. It can be achieved by using simple and
available biodegradable materials.These are cornstarch,
water, milk and vinegar. If you want those reminders to
actually work, you will need natural food-dye like turmeric,
or hibiscus or any other form of powder food dye.
15

16. Biodegradable reminder
Results :
There are many benefits of this product:
1) It is made of available materials.
2) Easy to use.
3) Eco-friendly
4) affordable
5) Most importantly, it will reduce the chance of
using expired materials, which can be dangerous.
On the other hand, this product can be used for other
applications, such as a reminder for periodic check up of
water tanks, maintenance, etc.
16

17. Biodegradable reminder
Recommendations :
1) People can make this kind of reminder and use at
their home.
2)The companies who are interested in our project
should improve the idea.
3) maintenance companies can apply this strategy
to remind the workers with periodic check
17

18. 1) we’ve achieved a lot of experience through
Al-Bairaq project.
2)We learned a lot of information around
biodegradable materials and how helpful they are.
3)We learned how to do experiment's by ourselves.
4) We learned how to solve problems in various
ways.
Al-Bairaq
Conclusion :
18

19. Acknowledgment
Many thanks to my teachers, school and AL-Bairaq team from
Center for Advanced Materials (CAM), Qatar University for
supporting us during our journey with AL-Bairaq.
Also, I would like to thank the sponsors UNESCO,Qatar National
Commission, Ras Gas, Maersk and Shell.
19